Murder at Agreste Mansion
by Linguine Returns
Summary: A dinner party for the 15 most upper class people in Paris goes wrong when murder occurs! At least that's the scenario that Marinette and her classmates are role-playing in as Adrien is finally allowed to host a party at his mansion and decides to get everyone in costume for a murder mystery.
1. Lady Bugsworthy

**Murder at the Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 1 – Lady Bugsworthy**

 _Lady Bugsworthy,_

 _You have been invited to a dinner party at the Noir Manor (Agreste Mansion) this Saturday._

 _You are daughter of the deceased Lord Bugsworthy and his wife, and heir to their wealth and status._ (Costume recommendation: High class dress, red and black colour scheme).

 _Be at the mansion for 6PM and stay in character!_

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Your host – Lord Cassar Noir_

* * *

"So, _Lady Bugsworthy,_ are you looking forward to the party?" Alya asked Marinette after reading her invite, emphasising the name mockingly.

"I am indeed _Madame Rouge!_ " Marinette retorted in the snootiest accent she could manage, also emphasising the name.

The two girls stared at each other for a second before both bursting into laughter.

"But in all seriousness, I am really excited!" Marinette said after finishing giggling.

"I know right! I still can't believe Adrien's dad let him have it, Nino told me that Adrien spent a whole week trying to find a moment to ask him! He was so shocked when he said yes!"

"He's so excited about it too! I've seen him practising mannerisms as his character before class all week. It's so cute!" Marinette said giddily.

Alya looked at Marinette smirking.

"Shut up Alya!" Marinette began to blush, "I'm allowed to think he's adorable when he's happy."

"You always think he's adorable"

"And that's because he is. Stop judging me, you go on about Nino sometimes for hours." Marinette folded her arms and frowned at her friend.

Alya's smirk dropped and she quickly tried to change the subject, "So what are you wearing? I'd assume your fashion designer's brain is going wild with ideas for your costume."

Marinette's face suddenly lit up as she pulled out her phone to show Alya pictures, "Yeah! I kind of went overboard as soon as I read the invite."

Marinette showed her photos of a mannequin wearing a red cocktail dress with a small black cardigan covering the shoulders. It also had a necklace with a red pendant with black spots on it. She also had photos of a black clutch bag, red high heeled shoes, a red headband and earrings that matched the necklace.

"You made all of that in 3 days?!" Alya asked in disbelief.

"uhhh-" Marinette sheepishly looked at her friend, "Actually I did this all in the first night after I got the invite. I got a bit carried away. I didn't go to sleep until 5AM."

"Girl you're crazy!" Alya exclaimed, "Although I guess your efforts were worth it! It looks fabulous! I love the touches with the Ladybug pattern on the jewellery and that headband- Oh my Marinette I can't remember the last time I saw you let your hair down! Wow I bet Adrien's going to love it!"

Marinette's face froze.

"I meant because he's so enthusiastic he'll love the costume!" Alya clarified, " _Although I wouldn't blame him if he fell for you in this_." Alya felt a light dig in her arm. She smirked, it was always fun to tease Marinette.

After a few seconds of silence Alya decided to change the mood again, "I was just gonna buy stuff for my costume but if you want you could help pick it out."

Marinette's eyes lit up as a big grin appeared on her face. Alya was slightly disturbed by the enormous smile.

"Alya can I please please please please pleeeeeaaase make your costume?!" She almost exploded the words from her mouth in eagerness.

"Go for it, I can't turn down an offer from the best seamstress I know."

The grin returned as she frantically got her notebook out and began sketching Alya's body. "So I was thinking your character would wear a dress that goes down longer and doesn't flower out as much as mine. And of course, it has to be orange like the invite specified, and with that I'd say orange heels and Lady's hat to match. I was also thinking you could get a fox fur, although make sure you don't get a real one because having a dead fox around your neck is disgusting and cruel."

After finishing her spiel Marinette showed Alya the sketch. "What do you think?"

"It's perfect! That definitely looks like rich huntsman's wife to me."

Marinette jumped up and began running out of the park, "Ok that sounds great I'm gonna go buy some spare materials for this and get to work make sure you remember to buy the fur byeeeeee!" she shouted all in one breath as she left.

Alya laughed at her friend as she ran off in her passion-filled craze. She got out her phone to call Nino.


	2. Lord Cassar Noir

**Author's Note:**

 **Oh my LORD! My inbox exploded when I checked it today! 20 followers, 11 favourites and 3 reviews after only 1 chapter!? I couldn't believe my eyes!**

 **Thank you all for the immense positive feedback, I was unsure how much I liked this story when writing it so seeing the response has really made me happy and motivated me a lot more.**

 **Although I have posted chapters 2 days in a row I may not keep this pace as I haven't actually written anything after this chapter yet but seeing how many of you already followed and favourited it has motivated me to work harder on getting it written to post as often as I can. So please bear with me and thank you for your patience.**

 **Replies to reviews:**

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl:** _Sounds extremely interesting! Excited to see where you go with this!_ _Just a quick question- do the Miraculous exist in this universe?_

 **Thank you. At the time of writing chapter 1 I hadn't quite decided whether they would or not but as you will see in this chapter, Ladybug is referenced in Adrien's thoughts so I would say yes they do exist. However this does bring up the obvious question: Wouldn't Adrien realise that Marinette is Ladybug if her character is directly inspired by Ladybug? To which my answer is no, for the same reason that they aren't able to tell that they are Ladybug and Chat Noir despite their face-masks not hiding anything. Regardless of your opinion on that, 1 thing I can certainly say is that in the story no-one will transform (including Hawk Moth and Akuma's too).**

 **Guest:** _This sounds so much like that Adventure Time chapter,the one where they were playing rich characters in a mansion and everybody have a NME like 'Lady_" or "Lord_",and,at some point who send the letters starts taking people bc his a phantom (and he kills some people i think),but at the end of the day it was just Jake pranking on Finn. Anyone remembers that chap.?_

 **I love that episode so much! I hadn't directly considered it an inspiration when writing it but there are a lot of similarities. The actual inspiration was simply an actual murder-mystery party that me and my friends had the night before I came up with this idea.**

* * *

 **Murder at the Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 2 – Lord Cassar Noir**

"Adrien, your last guest has arrived."

"Ok thank you Natalie, but can you call me Lord Noir if I'm with the guests tonight? We're meant to stay in character."

"If you wish then I shall do so. Shall I let her in myself like the others?"

"No. I'll greet her myself. It's what Lord Noir should do."

"Very well Lord Noir." Natalie bowed to Adrien as she dismissed herself from his room. It made Adrien chuckle a little bit.

He made his way downstairs and past the dining hall where the rest of his guests were already waiting. He was both nervous and excited, he really wanted this to go well since it's not a common occurrence to have a party at his house, but he had been practicing a lot. Despite this he couldn't bring himself to formally welcome any of the guests and had instead told Natalie to direct them to the dining hall, until he joins them once they are all there, allowing him to overcome his nerves all at once.

However, he had been reflecting on his choice and decided it was best to not make such a large entrance, and the best way to do that was to enter with the last guest. He just had to get past the formal welcome with her first.

As he opened the door he bowed as his character would, "Good evening Lady Bugsworthy! Welcome to the Noir Manor!".

He looked up at Marinette and froze up. She was stunning. He had always thought she was a good-looking person but never felt anything towards her, nor anyone other than Ladybug. Seeing her in costume opened his mind for once. He began blushing. For a brief moment he might have considered her better than Ladybug, but quickly shunned that thought. He was faithful, even if they "aren't a thing".

She was blushing too, seeing Adrien in a full tux and acting so gentlemanly was really attractive. She imagined their future dates at formal events where they would be dressed just as fancy if not more! Once she snapped out of it she realised she had been staring at him and hadn't even spoken. Trying to overcompensate she quickly said the first thing she thought of, "Good evening Lord Noir! Thank you for your hot- HOSpitality!".

 _Darn it Marinette! Focus!_

Adrien trying to hide his blushing quickly resumed character, he took her hand and brought it to his lips. "It's a pleasure M'Lady".

Marinette was freaking out inside, desperately trying not to show it.

"Shall we join the other guests?" He asked offering his arm out, so he could escort her. She took his arm in hers gleefully and let him lead her to the dining hall.

* * *

Everyone was talking to one another as they entered. They only noticed when they heard the door close behind them, they all looked up from their conversation to see Adrien with Marinette on his arm. A wolf whistle came from the area near Kim shortly followed by Alix's voice saying, 'shut up'.

"AAAADDRIKINS!" Chloé shouted as she ran up to him and barged Marinette off of his arm taking it herself and nestling her head on his shoulder. "You look amaaaazing! Look how great we look together!" she said taking a selfie and showing him it.

Marinette, understandably flustered after her interaction with Adrien and being barged 5 seconds ago, stood quite dazed but was quickly taken away by Alya swooping in before she could get embarrassed and they both went to their seats admiring the other guest's costumes.

After managing to pry Chloe off his body and scolding her for not staying in character, Adrien began to great his guests.

"Good evening everyone! Welcome to the Noir Manor! I am your host, Lord Cassar Noir. I hope you enjoy your meals as you socialise with the 15 highest class people in all of Paris! I sure know I will!"

After Adrien's speech had finished everyone began to socialise both in and out of character. The dinner was served, and everyone was having a great time. Once everyone had finished their meals Adrien got to do what he had been waiting for all evening, he tapped his fork against his glass and stood up to speak, "Ladies and Gentlemen I'd like to make a toast! To a wonderful evening!" Everyone raised their glasses and then took a sip from them.

Suddenly Alix started coughing which turned into choking before she collapsed on the floor. Everyone was in shock and a few people rushed to help her. They were pushed out of the way by Max.

"Max what are you doing!? Stop it!"

Adrien spoke up again suddenly, "Doctor Nox! What has happened to her?"

Everyone looked at Adrien in confusion, except for Max who replied, "I'm afraid she's dead Lord Noir."

The others were starting to understand that this was all an act, and a few were playing along.

"Did she choke to death Doctor?" Nino asked.

"No Colonel, I believe she has been poisoned!" Max.

A gasp came from everyone in the room.

"Noir!" Shouted Ivan, "One of your servants is a murderer!"

"No, Mr Knowles" Adrien replied, "That cannot be the case! Everyone's punch was from the same bowl in the centre of the table." Everyone looked at the punch bowl which was indeed the one they had taken their drink from. "For only Madame Veloci's punch to have been poisoned and not the rest of us someone in this room must have tampered with it whilst we were dining!"

Everyone began looking at each other in a mix of distrust and confusion.

Alya broke the silence, "Lord Noir what you are saying is that one of us is a murderer?"

"Yes, Madame Rouge"

Kim stood up and positioned himself in front of the door.

"Sargent Corbex what are you doing?" Nino asked him.

"Colonel Carapace I am preventing the murderer from leaving this room until we uncover their identity" He replied.


	3. Madame Veloci

**Author's Note:**

 **Yet again I opened my inbox to be amazed! This is the last time I will go on about it (except maybe at the last chapter) but thank you so much for the support you are showing! I will do my best to make the story as good as I can for you all.**

 **Replies to Reviews:**

 **Ugly-Duckling123** _If you limited it to be 10 people._ _You could have done 'Ten Little Sailors' nursery rhyme._

I have absolutely no idea what that is. The closest thing I could think of is 'Ten in the bed'? ("and the little one said roll over" etc.). Even though it wasn't really what you asked, I thought I would mention that the reason I decided on 15 was because it means no classmates were left out. I didn't originally plan for all the classmates but I really struggled to find any other good reason for Adrien to have invited Chloe, who I wanted in for moments later on.

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _Ooh, everything's heating up already!_ _The names you're using for each of the characters are interesting- I'm having fun guessing/seeing where you got them from!_ _LOL when I saw the name Madam Rouge, I thought of Teen Titans. ;P_

I tried my best to come up with good names for the characters although I have to admit some of the minor ones don't have a meaning as some characters really don't have much to define them other than their Akuma, and the names were hard to work with. It all kind of sparked from the name "Lady Bugsworthy" which came to me when deciding to make them have characters.

 **Lizzy the mlb girl** _I love this way too much! Good job, girl/boy/idc!_

Firstly, thank you. Secondly, I am very clearly a humanoid cluster of Linguine, hence my name. Gosh. :P

 **Spottedlittlebug (Guest)** _And thus the fun begins! I always wondered how the characters who "are murdered" know that they should be murdered. Do they get instructions on a card beforehand?_

You'll find out in this chapter funnily enough! Although as you'll see you aren't that far off with that idea.

 **AimeeGamieUnicorn** and **HeartAngel1796** didn't have questions but thank you both for your kind messages.

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 3 – Madame Veloci**

"Sargent Corbex is right" Max began, "We need to figure out who the murderer is whilst we are all together."

"How do we know who we can trust Doctor?" Rose asked timidly.

"We don't know who we can trust Madame Magenta. The best we can do is keep an eye on one another." He replied suspiciously eyeing up his audience. "However, my recommended first course of action would be to investigate Madame Veloci's corpse for any clues."

Everyone turned to look at Alix still laying on the floor. No body moved towards her. They all looked at Marinette who was stood closest to Alix.

"Lady Bugsworthy, could you pass me her glass?" Max asked.

"I um- I- ok." Marinette sheepishly picked up the glass quickly to get the attention of off her as quick as possible. As she was about to hand it to Max she noticed something off. "Hey there's a red card in the glass." She took the card out and read it aloud:

"POISON,

Recipient:

If this card is in your food or drink you have been poisoned and must die accordingly. You may disclose the information of anyone you suspect may have placed this card here but must die within the next 10 seconds.

Murderer:

Place this card in the food or drink of a victim. They will only die once consuming said food or drink. Use this to your advantage to poison them in advance as unlike other cards, they may speak for 10 seconds before dying."

Once Marinette had finished reading she looked up at the rest of the group. They all looked at each other processing the information they had just learned.

It was Juleka who broke the silence, "So the murder has to give us red cards to kill us?"

"And from the sounds of it some of them won't allow us to say anything the second we receive them" Myléne added.

"So, if we get left alone with the murderer we're pretty much doomed?" Ivan added.

Max once again decided to speak up, "Let's not focus on that. _For now_. Let's try and work out who put that card in Madame Veloci's glass".

"Isn't it obvious? Maritrash was obviously the one who did it. She's right next to Alix!" Chloe obnoxiously said.

"Madame Honey you can't just assume Lady Bugsworthy did it for being there!" Adrien argued, "And you have to stay in character which includes calling Bugsworthy and Veloci by their correct names."

"Fine. But don't expect me to trust _Bugsworthy_ , I know it was her."

"You're one to talk Madame Honey, you were standing right next to Veloci when you came here to harass Bugsworthy and I." Alya snapped back.

"Since we're making accusations I totally saw Ms Skales, Lady Violet and Professor Pintura hanging by Veloci's place" Lila announced. Making Sabrina, Juleka and Nathaniel scowl at her.

"Lady Noxium that is a _lot_ of accusations to make." Adrien said.

"I'm just telling you what I saw _Cassar_." She replied dryly.

"Right." Adrien said slightly annoyed, "So at the moment our suspects are Bugsworthy, Honey, Skales, Violet and Pintura. We have no way of determining who in particular it was but there _are_ still 9 of us who are not suspects. If 2 of us each keep a close eye on 1 suspect, then whichever of them it is will be unable to murder both of their watchers."

"What about the 1 person that doesn't have a partner watching their suspect with them?" Ivan asked.

"Well, that's a good point Mr Knowles" Adrien replied putting his hand to the back of his head struggling to think on the spot. "If-

Adrien was cut off by all of the lights turning off all at once, leaving the room too dark to see more than a couple inches in front of you.

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LIGHTS!?"

Suddenly a cold shriek came from the back of the room. Then silence.

No one said a thing, but they all knew what had happened.

A second scream then came from the complete other side of the room, but it was deeper.

The lights suddenly flicked back on and everyone shielded their eyes to the bright light. Once they could see they saw that Ivan had found and turned on the light switch. They also saw the two bigger elephants in the room: Rose and Kim lying on the ground with red cards on their chests that read:

DAGGER,

Recipient:

You are dead as soon as you are given this card. The most you can do is scream.

Murder:

Give this card to a victim when no-one else is around, to instantly kill them.


	4. Doctor Nox

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **Ugly-Duckling123** & **MysNis1206 (Guest)**

Ugly-Duckling I responded to your PM so check your inbox for my reply. MysNis glad to hear you are enjoying it, I read the poem as Duckling sent it to me but you did bring a good point up about the whole "black people" thing from old literature, It's interesting to me to think about what might be considered "taboo" in modern stuff and has to be changed for future readers, especially with the rapid increase on political correctness these days.

 **CanaryBug** _OH my that escalated quickly..._

No kidding ;) I always think deaths are more fun completely out of the blue. (At least from a reader perspective, if they don't make sense in context then it's lazy writing)

 **Ladybug fan Renee** _This is a great story so far please (then the word please around 300 times) update soon PLEASE_

Firstly chill with the pleases, my email forced me to look at the review on the site just to see the end. Secondly I will do my best to keep it at least 1 chapter a day as I have managed to so far. (I also have managed to get a bit ahead too so I could theoretically not write for a few days and still post daily but I want to keep writing so I should be fine).

 **Guest** _This is beautiful! I love the original idea/concept for this fic! But, even though the main course of this fic is 'Who dunnit~Murder mystery edition' will we get some Adrienette (or in this case, Noirworthy) as a side dish?_

Keep your eyes peeled for chapter 6 my friend. (maybe even more later but haven't written that far yet)

 **Spottedlittlebug (Guest)** _Oh no! Poor Rose. Can't wait for next chapter! :3_

Poor Rose sadly fell into the slot of non-major (and therefore easily killable early) character. At least it isn't real.

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _First of all, quick correction- did you mean DAGGER instead of DRAGGER?_ _And wow, two more deaths! Things have escalated quickly! (How did they read the cards in the dark?)_

Thank you for correcting me. Of all words to misspell and not notice that has to be one of the worst considering it's in all caps XD. I tried to explain that by specifying "too dark to see more than a couple inches in front of you" but I would be lying if that wasn't a last minute edit to make it make some sense that they could read it. Maybe they eat a lot of carrots?

 **toBEEornottoBEE (Guest)** _soooo...when someone 'dies'...do they just leave when no-one is looking? and do they just kind of hang out at the house eating food?_

Although not specifically stated the rules basically are that you can do whatever you want as long as when your corpse is needed (for example investigating) you have to be where it was left. I guess once everyone has left the room the corpses might start chatting and enjoying the leftovers from the meal.

 **No reply but thanks to** ImperialOtaku, CeceTheFandomQue (Guest) and chocoholic202 (Guest) **for your postive messages!**

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 4 – Doctor Nox**

"Well that's just great! Isn't it!" Lila shouted, "We're not even safe in a room with all of us together. What's up with your cruddy lights Noir?!"

"I don't know! Maybe the murderer tampered with them?" Adrien suggested defensively.

"Oh really, and who is able to do that when we're all together?"

"Lady Noixum please stop shouting" Max interrupted, "We need to handle this rationally or we're not going to get anywhere"

Lila scoffed and continued to glare at the group as Max continued.

"We're now 2 down and neither were suspects so we need to thin our options before we get outnumbered."

"How do we do that Doctor?" Myléne asked.

"We interrogate them one by one and find out who has a motive to kill!"

"Who's first Nox?" Alya asked him.

Max hesitated for a moment surveying his choices. After many seconds of silence, he decided. "Madame Honey first."

Everyone looked at Chloe who frowned at Max, "Oh _of course_ you'd pick me first! You're all against me even though I know _Bugsworthy_ is guilty!"

Ivan cleared his throat causing the others to look up at him, "Isn't it fair to say the suspects may not speak unless directly asked?"

Everyone agreed to this rule immediately to prevent any more outbursts from Chloe who frowned even more.

"So, Madame Honey, or Beatrice if I may? What's your backstory?" Max asked Chloe.

* _sigh*_ "I'm the prestigious and glamourous daughter of Lord Honey" Chloe began, "He super rich and powerful and could have any of you who turn on me put into a bad situation, if you get what I'm saying."

"Nice one Bea, make a case by threatening us. I'm sure that'll work out great for you" Lila said with her arms folded.

"You know what _Noxium,_ I hope Bugsworthy offs you next, so I don't have to hear your BS" Chloe snapped back at her.

"WOAH! Chlo- Honey that's a bit much." Adrien interrupted before things got out of control. "I think maybe it's best if we move on to another suspect Dr Nox."

Max nodded and turned to Sabrina, "Ms Vipa Skales, do you care to tell us how you got so highly regarded to be with the rest of us?"

"Well, doctor my husband was a billionaire before he passed. I was left in possession of his wealth and here I am."

"And how did your husband die Vipa?"

"He- Uh- Well the autopsy said it was food poisoning Doctor"

" _Food_ poisoning, or was he poisoned by someone that would benefit from his death? Perhaps that same person pulled the same trick on poor Veloci?"

Sabrina began to cry, "Doctor that is utterly preposterous! How dare you suggest such a thing!"

"I think I'll move on to Pintura now." Max said nonchalantly despite what just happened. (It was all acting after all).

Nathaniel spoke before Max could open his mouth, "Listen here Doctor, I haven't murdered any spouse, nor have I got a mobster father. I'm an artist and a damn good one to have earned my fortune. So whatever petty questions you have, you're wasting my time."

"What about the numbers of claims that you steal your artwork from lesser-know artists to get money at their expense?" Max asked smugly.

"I uh-" Nathaniel couldn't answer.

"1 or 2 thefts might lead to more crimes, next thing you know: You murder people for their wealth."

"No comment" Nathaniel said with nothing to argue back with.

Max then turned to Juleka, "Lady Violet. You've been quite quiet tonight. Are you more of a thinker? What are you thinking right now?"

"What does that have to do with murder?" she questioned.

"Nothing at all. Unless you're thinking through your plans to slip a red card to your next victim that is."

Juleka didn't say anything in response.

"Now! Time for the Lady in red." Max said turning to Marinette, "Bugsworthy, you're right next to Veloci's drink. It would have been quite easy for you to tamper with it."

"I haven't touched anyone's drinks." Marinette replied.

"Well surely you would be able to see anyone doing it since you're so close."

"I didn't see anyone go near the glass. The only people who were even near Veloci were the 4 people you've already questioned."

Max paused to think for a second. For Marinette it felt like an eternity. She knew it wasn't her, but she also had no proof that it wasn't nor any to say who it was.

"For now, forget the glass." Max instructed her. He walked over to Kim lying on the ground next to Lila and also gestured at Rose on the other side of the room. "What about these two? Who do you think has good enough vision in the dark to stab these two and get back to where they were standing without being caught?"

"I don't know Doctor" Marinette answered, "It seems impossible".

"Exactly! There is only one possible explanation!" Max announced.

"There must be two murderers among us!"


	5. Sargent Corbex

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **(Firstly there were a** _lot_ **of prediction reviews on the last chapter I want to address here that I will not respond to any of them (or future ones) as you may be able to work stuff out based on my responses even if I don't even confirm or de-confirm any. However I am reading them all and enjoying it very much.)**

 **CeceTheFandomQue (Guest)** _I LOVE how they are all getting so into character! But does Adrien know who the murderer (murderers?) are? Because how could the murderers receive their cards instructing them to do so?_

When everyone received their invites (like Marinette's in Chapter 1) it tells them if they are the murderer and supplies the red cards. Adrien doesn't know what was inside of any character's invite (except his own), he just picked who was sent which invite. (e.g. He chose that Marinette would be Lady Bugsworthy but wouldn't have known if Lady Bugsworthy was the murder or not).

 **Spottedlittlebug** _two murderers?! I hope it doesn't end like the orient express.. :D. Can't wait for more :3_

Haha, that would be a fun twist.

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 5 – Sargent Corbex**

"Doctor Nox, you cannot be serious?" Adrien asked Max, "2 murderers?"

"But I am Lord Noir! And there's more!"

" _MORE THAN 2 MURDERERS?!"_ Sabrina shrieked.

"No. I meant I have more information." Max informed her before causing uproar. "I believe I know who they are!"

"Stop hesitating and tell us then Doc!" Nino said.

"Yes Colonel, I shall." Max told him slightly annoyed. "It all made sense once I figured out that the murder who poisoned Veloci was NOT the murderer who stabbed Sargent Corbex as it would be impossible for them to have gotten to him so quickly as well as getting Madame Magenta. However! There was a very important factor into working out who _did_ murder Corbex and that was the straw that broke the camel's back!"

"Doctor can you get to the point please?" Nino ushered.

"Yes Colonel I am _getting there_!" Max said annoyed at his impatience. "What I was able to so brilliantly figure out was that the person who murdered Corbex must have _both_ been close to him, but also have acquired a dagger to use. The dagger would have to have been hidden in some sort of bag so they must be a woman who is seated close to her target, ready for the moment when everyone is distracted and he is not aware of her behind him so that she can stab-"

Max was cut off by a red card being placed in his hand over his shoulder that read:

DAGGER

With his last permitted second of life he whispered "Noxium" and collapsed to the ground.

Lila had slipped Max the 'dagger' from behind during his spiel and was proceeding to run out of the now clear doorway into the rest of the Mansion.

The rest of the group stood in shock at what had happened.

"So, Lady Noxium murdered Sargent Corbex and now Doctor Nox?" Alya asked aloud in disbelief.

"I guess he was about to reveal her intentions anyway, so she might as well pre-emptively get revenge" Nino said.

Marinette rushed to the door and stopped when no-one followed her, "We have to go after her. We can't let her escape now, she's a murderer!"

Everyone nodded in agreement and they too left the dining room to go after Lila.

Once they were in the main foyer Adrien stopped the group. "We have 30 minutes to find Noxium or by the rules it is considered her getting away with it" He informed them.

"But the mansion is huge Noir! It would take hours to search it all!" Nino protested.

"We should split up into groups, so we can search faster!" Marinette suggested.

"That's good idea Bugsworthy!" Adrien praised her, "But we need to be careful about the groups. There's 10 of us and 5 of us are still suspects for Veloci and Magenta's deaths."

"The fairest way to do it would be to partner 1 suspect with one non-suspect" Alya said, "But it's a big gamble since someone's going to be left with the real murderer."

"I don't like the chance of that, but we really need as much coverage of the mansion and 5 groups would really help..." Adrien said conflicting with the idea in his head.

"Well then!" Chloe spoke up, "If that's so _I_ will go with Lord Noir!"

"Hold on Honey!" Ivan interrupted, "Who said you get to choose your partner? Surely that should be up to the non-suspects to decide?"

"Yeah! And you seem suspiciously eager to be alone with Lord Noir" Marinette added, "I wouldn't trust that if I were you Noir."

"That's a good point Bugsworthy." Adrien agreed to Chloe's upmost disgust, "You have been _really_ pushy tonight Honey."

"I have not!" She shouted acting way to over-offended.

"We need to get on with it and catch Noxium" Alya intervened, "How about Mr Knowles takes Lady Violet, Colonel Carapace takes Professor Pintura, I'll take Ms Skales, and since Madame Honey shouldn't be trusted around Lord Noir, Lady Azure will take Honey and Noir can take Bugsworthy."

Everyone nodded in agreement about the partner choices except for Chloe who was still complaining. They chose to ignore her and begin their searches. Ivan and Juleka headed to the lower east wing, Nino and Nathaniel went to the upper east wing, Alya and Sabrina went to the lower west wing, Myléne and Chloe (unwillingly) went to the upper west wing and Marinette and Adrien went in the centre.

As they were leaving Alya threw a wink to Marinette who blushed now realising why she took charge of the group choice.


	6. Break the Immersion

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **CanaryBug** _Alya Cesaire, you sly fox._ _And I guess I was kinda right?_

Isn't she just? I'd say you were to an extent, It's hard to explain without spoiling stuff but once you get an explanation on Lila's character you'll get what I mean.

 **.ox** _This immediately reminds me of murder on the orient express! But, I mean Lady HONEY wasn't the one to die... so I believe it can't be all of them_

That is very true. I think if that was the case Chloe wouldn't take it very lightly.

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _Ooh, alone time between Marinette and Adrien! With a murderer on the loose! Sounds like fun!_ _How do people catch the murderer without getting murdered themselves?_

That's the risk they've decided to take. Although in terms of the rules: If the red card is not given to you as specified on the card then it cannot kill you. (So if the murderer was pinned down, preventing them giving a dagger card to someone, then they cannot kill the person pinning them).

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 6 – Break the immersion**

Marinette and Adrien were walking down corridors checking rooms as the walked past, they hadn't spoken other than the occasional "She's not in here". Despite it all being an act for the party, the mood was too down for small talk. She really wanted to say something to him however since Alya had made the effort to get them alone together even over-ruling Chloe.

"This has been a fun party Noir" She said.

He stopped walking and turned to look at her, "How so?"

"I mean- If you don't include the murders and interrogation, then this has been a really classy dinner party."

"Thank you, I guess? I have been a bit more focussed on the murders than the party itself, but your re-assurance tells me it's going fine."

Adrien continued walking and looking in rooms. Marinette was walking behind him but not really looking properly.

After another 3 rooms checked she decided to try to talk to him again.

"Do you think it's me Noir?" she asked him.

This time he froze but didn't turn around. "You mean-?"

"Yes, do you think I'm the murderer Noir?"

"I-" he paused for a moment to think, "I don't think you are no." He finally responded, "although this question does kind of feel like it's leading up to something I might not like."

"No! No! I didn't mean it like that!" Marinette desperately reassured him. She shoved her open bag in his face, "see! No red cards in here."

"Okay okay! I believe you" He said with a slight chuckle. "I'm still not sure who I _do_ think it is though, Honey seems way too obvious and I feel like that's just her characteristics in general, and the other 3 aren't any more suspicious than one another."

They continued walking and neither said anything after that. The silence was painful to Marinette.

After another two rooms searched she tried a different approach.

"Hey Noir" she began.

"Yes?"

"Since we're by ourselves may I have permission to speak to Adrien?" She didn't make eye contact with him.

He stopped and faced her as he spoke, "Lady Bugsworthy doesn't know any 'Adrien'."

She looked up at him this time, "Then can _Marinette_ speak to him?"

"Sure thing Marinette, what's the matter?"

She frowned at him as he had a beaming grin on his face. "You have dad joke levels of humour" She muttered which made him burst out in laughter to her surprise. At the very least it definitely had lifted the mood.

Once he had finished laughing he sat down against one of the corridor walls and patted the ground next to him gesturing her to join him. "What's up?" he asked her.

"I just wanted to talk to Adrien about all of this, not 'Noir's dinner party gone wrong', Adrien's murder mystery party" She told him, "Adrien's first _ever_ party!".

He smiled thinking about it. Until now he hadn't properly reflected on it as Adrien. For once it was nice to break the immersion.

"How'd you do it then?" She asked him.

"Do what?"

"Convince your father to let you have it."

"Oh that." He smiled thinking about it, "Mostly pestering him every day until he gave in".

"How long did that take? A few days?"

"More like 3 weeks." He chuckled. "His one condition was that I never ask to have a party for at least a few years."

"That's a bit much isn't it" She asked him. She couldn't imagine her parents being so strict on her.

"I was worth it though, everyone's really playing their characters and the costumes look amazing." He couldn't stop smiling as he spoke.

"I know right! I really love the effort they put into them." She hesitated for a second, "Well I might have put more into mine but making clothes _is_ what I'm all about"

"You _made_ that?"

"Yep, do you like it?"

"Are you kidding? You look amazing!"

Marinette began to blush, Adrien realised what he had said and he too blushed.

" _IT_ looks amazing. Not you. I mean- no you do but- I don't think you do- no. I-" *sigh* Adrien hung his head flushed red with embarrassment. Marinette finally realised what it felt like to be in his shoes. "I'm sorry, I meant to say your costume not that you-"

"It's ok Adrien I get what you meant." She interrupted to save him further embarrassment, "Who would I be to judge people messing up their words."

Adrien nodded with his face still red. Marinette leaned over and kissed his cheek lightly. She stood up and reached out her hand to help him up, "Thanks for telling me I look amazing, you dress up quite well yourself Lord Noir."

"Are you Lady Bugsworthy now or Marinette?" He asked her.

"Marinette? I've never heard of a Marinette!" She said winking at him before continuing to walk down the corridor on their search, although Adrien was now the one trailing behind her.


	7. Lady Noxium

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **Guest** _Woah, this chapter is really nice! I'm glad we got some fluff. I also gotta say that I really admire your writing skills. But anyone else think it's funny that Adrien is calling Chloe 'Honey'? It's kinda an endearing nickname. And why isn't Marinette stuttering in front of Adrien? (Did Ihave miss something?)_

(You left this review on chapter 1 but from the content of the review I believe it's supposed to be for chapter 6) Firstly thank you, I didn't they were that good but I guess everyone hates their own work. Secondly yeah I had thought about that when making the name but I really liked the pun of Beatrice (or Bea) Honey (Honey Bee), if anything I see it as almost a subtle irony with him calling her that. Thirdly (and Finally) it was subtle but it was meant to be a more in the moment boost of confidence with Adrien acting like how she does around him usually and she kinda slipped into Ladybug a bit when helping him. (This chapter's opening section does address it more though).

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _Oooh, some Adrienette fluff! So cute!_ _Quick Q: How did the murderers get decided? (Adrien obviously didn't pick. Or did he?)_

The murder mystery letters (including the murderer's instuctions) were part of a pre-made pack that one would buy (like if you do one in real life), Adrien just decided who would be which character and someone address the letters to and from the right address (probably Natalie).

 **CeceTheFandomQue (Guest)** _Go Mari! Get that confidence girl!_

Preach! (I wish Mari would do the same in the show like jeez)

 **jessiegirl369** _I love this story so much and am so excited to know what happens next. your writing is amazing. Don't there name kind of give away there super hero identities a little though? by the way I love how marinette got her ladybug confidence. Thx for the amazing story please keep writing._

Yeah they do but I would also say that their superhero identities would be really obvious if anyone that knows them had some common sense. (And thank you).

 **CanaryBug** _Dont you just LOVE Adrienette fluff?_

I live off of it! (Although I'm more of a fan of LadyNoir if I had to pick)

 **7lights13darknesses** _This reminds of a play I was in at my school last year called And Then There Was One. I was actually the doctor. Keep it up._

That sounds awesome! Hopefully you ended up better off than our Doctor though?

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 7 – Lady Noxium**

Marinette had been freaking out internally for the last 10 minutes. She kissed Adrien! Albeit only on the cheek. _She still KISSED_ _ADRIEN!_ She kept replaying the moment over and over in her head and the more she did, the less she believed she did it. It had been a complete spur of the moment decision and unlike anyway she had imagined doing it.

She couldn't help but wonder if it was the right thing to do. He _was_ in a vulnerable state of embarrassment and she slightly took advantage of that. But a kiss on the cheek isn't that bad is it? She had intended it to be re-assuring for him as he was _clearly_ in turmoil over trying to correct his mistake while not offending her.

Maybe she was overthinking it. She looked back at Adrien who was still following her down the corridor. He wasn't red anymore but was looking at the floor as walked rather than at her or any of the rooms. Maybe he was just embarrassed, but she couldn't get the idea out of her head that he was upset with her.

Marinette's inner conflict was put on hold when they heard shouting from around the next corner. "Grab her!" "I'm trying! I don't see _you_ helping!" "I'm guarding the door!". It sounded like Nino and Nathaniel's voices. Marinette turned and looked at Adrien who had looked up hearing the noise. They looked at each other and nodded and both sprinted to the source of the noise.

* * *

As they entered the room they saw Lila pinned to the floor by Nino with Nathaniel rummaging through her bag.

"Let me go you brutes!" Lila screamed at them.

"Oh, _we're_ the brutes?" Nathaniel mocked, "Let's not forget who _literally_ stabbed Doctor Nox in the back."

"So?! That's what I'm supposed to do!" She said defensively, "It doesn't mean you can hold me down like an animal and go through my stuff."

"Well actually the rules say you can apprehend a criminal in any way" Adrien chimed in causing the 3 of them to notice him and Marinette.

"Fine! I've been apprehended then! I lose! What a _huge_ shame! NOW GET OFF ME!" She screamed at Adrien and Nino.

"Ok Colonel let her go" Adrien told Nino who released Lila. She stood up and smacked her bag out of Nathaniel's hands gave him a death glare as she walked away from him with it.

"Alright Noxium, you've lost. Confession time!" Nino said.

"Fine, I killed Sargent Corbex in the dark. And _obviously_ I killed Max."

"Why did you do it?" Marinette asked.

"It's the game genius!" She snapped back.

"No, why did you do it _then_? In front of all of us." Marinette said calmly trying to ignore Lila's obnoxiousness.

" _Because_ I'm not a _murderer_. I'm an _assassin._ And Nox was my target." Lila told them, "He was going to expose me at the end of his _very long_ speech, so I cut to the chase and killed him. Either way I would have been revealed so I might as well have killed my target."

"But if that's the case then why did you kill Corbex?" Nathaniel asked.

"It's really hard to see in the dark. I _tried_ to kill Nox then, but he had moved so I unintentionally gave the card to Corbex instead."

"If you were only an assassin, then there's still only one murderer trying to kill the rest of us?" Adrien questioned.

"I guess? I don't get any info on that." Lila told them, "Although you are running low on numbers here."

Everyone then realised that the other 6 might still be out there looking for Lila. "We should try an re-group with the others" Marinette said, "If we leave them too long the _real_ murderer might have killed them all." Everyone nodded in agreement and left the room.

"What do I do now?" Lila called back to the others.

"Well you're out now so... whatever I guess?" Adrien told her as they all left her.

Lila contemplated going back to the dining room but decided it wasn't worth it and left.


	8. Lady Azure

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **CanaryBug** _Wow._ _So.. Lila isn't as coldblooded as I had thought her out to be- Nah, I still hate her._

Don't we all?

 **Ugly-Duckling123** _She was better behaved than i tjought she'd be_

Really? When writing her bits I thought I had overdone it a bit. I guess not!

 **Katsa Graceling** _Hola! Espero puedas entender, me encanta esta historia, espero la proxima actualización :3_

Hola! Puedo entender porque estudié español desde hace 3 años (sin embargo no tengo mucha gramática buena). Me hace sentir feliz que te encanta la historia y soy impresionado que lees una historia ingles y puedes entenderla.

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _It I'm being honest, that was kind of anticlimactic. But it wasn't awfully boring! Now we get to find out if the other, non-assassin murderer, had killed anyone else yet!_

I had intended it sort of to be that way. Lila was always meant to be a red-herring but also kinda right at the same time. But now she's out the _real_ murderer can get the spotlight. (And maybe they've been working on that during Lila's unintentional distraction ;) )

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 8 – Lady Azure**

"How are we going to find the others?" Nino asked, "This mansion is so huge we could go past them several times and be none-the-wiser!"

"Let's split up so we have a better chance of running into them" Nathaniel said.

"No Professor that would only mean we can't find each other." Adrien pointed out, "We need a safety in numbers or the murderer will pick us off individually."

"I agree, we should stick as a group" Marinette said, "And since we're already upstairs we should look around the upper west wing for Lady Azure and- ugh, Madame Honey"

Everyone sighed but agreed it was the best plan of action and began walking towards the western wing.

"So where did you find Noxium in the end?" Marinette asked Nathaniel as they walked behind Nino and Adrien.

"She was attempting to hide in a guest bedroom but wasn't hidden very well since she didn't want to mess up her dress by crawling under the bed" He told her.

"She put the duvet over-self as if that would make her invisible" Nino added turning his head as he continued walking.

The thought of Lila standing with a blanket on her head made Marinette smile.

"Once we found her she threw it at us and made a break for it, but we cornered her into that room you found us in." Nathaniel told her.

"Good job guys. I didn't think she'd be so feisty, but you handled it well." Adrien congratulated them laughing at the thought of her throwing a duvet at them.

"Umm guys?" Nino stopped and looked at the group, "Isn't that Lady Azure?" He was pointing to a body lying on the floor ahead in the corridor.

As they ran closer to it they discovered that it was indeed Myléne. She had a red DAGGER card on her body like most of the victims had.

"So, the murderer got her too" Nathaniel said with a slight tone of remorse.

"Gah! I knew it!" Marinette screamed in frustration.

"Knew what?" Nino asked.

"Madame Honey!" Marinette shouted, "She was paired with Azure and now look. She's dead and Honey is nowhere to be seen!"

"That doesn't prove it was her though." Nathaniel pointed out.

"Then _where is she_?!" Marinette shouted back at him, "If she was here when Azure died she would be either dead too or she _was_ the murderer!"

"Woah! chill Lady, I was just trying to be fair" Nathaniel said backing off defensively.

Marinette still angry paused for a moment looking at Myléne and back at Nathaniel, "I'm sorry for snapping I just- It's so frustrating I- ugh!" Marinette walked away from the group to take a breather. The guys looked at each other with the same face of shock and confusion at the normally level-headed girl's outburst. Adrien left the other two and went over to Marinette.

"Hey Bugs- Marinette, are you okay?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry Adrien it's just Chloe, she's so- ugh! You know?" She didn't look at him as she spoke instead opting to look at the ground clenching her fists.

"I get it, she's horrible." He agreed putting his hand on her shoulder for re-assurance. "But why is it flipping you out so much that she _potentially_ is the murderer."

"It's just _her._ She's been horrible to me all evening!" She replied trying to hide the few tears coming down her face, "She accused me immediately, called me _trash_ and has been bullying me at every possible opportunity. And now I find out that she doesn't even have reason for it because it was _HER!_ And that means she knew it the whole time too!"

Adrien saw the tears coming down her cheek and it made him angry to see, Chloe _had_ been horrible. He moved to the other side of Marinette so that she wasn't facing away from him and pulled her into a hug. At first her arms were still by her sides but after a few seconds she wrapped them around him and began to hug him back tightly and cry on his shoulder. She was hugging a bit too tight to the point that Adrien was struggling to breathe but he held his breath as much as he could in hopes she would relax a little as she calmed down. He tried to comfort her by rubbing his hand on her back and she loosened her grip a little bit letting him take in a huge gasp of air.

The sound made Marinette look up at him in surprise and he tried play it off unsuccessfully. She let go of him quickly and looked at him apologetically, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to grip so hard it just felt-" She paused and took a calm breath, "It helped me get it out my system."

He nervously smiled back at her, "I'm glad I could help." He noticed her face was still wet from crying and got his handkerchief and used it to gently dry her face. "There you go." He said once it was all dry.

Marinette smile at him and grabbed him into another hug taking him by surprise. "Thank you for comforting me." She said before releasing him.

"No problem" he said still a little bit stunned by the sudden grab.

"They worst bit about it is she wasn't even discrete about it" Marinette said as they walked back to the others, "She was aggressive in the dining room and just left the evidence of her killing Azure right out in the open."

"Yeah, _clearly_ Madame Honey doesn't do subtlety." Adrien agreed chuckling, "hopefully that will help us catch her." He added.


	9. Ms Skales

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **Guest** _That is a good chapter. What days will you update?_

I currently update once every day but in the case that I am too busy to keep up it would be every 2 days at the very most until the story is complete.

 **7lights13darknesses** _That was a really cute scene near the end. And my character 'died by a can falling on his head from a shelf._

Thank you. That sounds like a kinda lame way to go out, although I guess since you were acting you couldn't do anything spectacularly gruesome.

 **(Most of the other reviews were predictions so I won't comment on them to avoid spoiling)**

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 9 – Ms Skales**

"We need to hurry up an find the others before they all end up like Lady Azure" Nino said as Adrien and Marinette returned to him and Nathaniel, "If you're ok now that is?"

"Yeah I'm better now thank you" Marinette told him, "You're right we really should hurry up"

We should go downstairs at the staircase down that corridor" Adrien said pointing to their left, "It's the quickest way to where Madame Rouge and Ms Skales went searching."

The group rushed down the corridor.

"What's the chances that everyone's already been murdered?" Nathaniel asked as they were running.

"I don't know." Adrien replied, "We've been across both sides of the Mansion now, so they could have easily done it too."

"It depends if they actually found the others." Nino said, "It's very easy to pass each other in a place this big."

"Let's hope that they didn't" Marinette said worried about her friends.

"Although if they did it would make it easier." Nathaniel said. Everyone frowned at him.

"What do you mean _easier._ " Adrien said.

"Well it would mean there are fewer potential murderers, so it would be easier to work out who did it." He said like it was obvious.

"That's not a good thing." Nino said

"Why not?"

"Because we would rather people were _alive"_ Adrien said.

"Ok fine, it _is_ just a game but sure" Nathaniel muttered the last part under his breath.

By now they had reached the bottom floor and began searching the corridors there.

"We still have no idea where to look" Nathaniel pointed out.

"We need a system, so we don't miss anything" Nino said opening a door and seeing nothing inside closing it again. "Now I go to the next door on the _right_ ".

As Nino was about to approach the door they all heard a scream.

"AAAAaaah! NO!" It sounded like Sabrina.

"It's Ms Skales!" Adrien shouted.

"PLEASE DON'T! AAAAAAH-"

"It sounded like she's a few doors down!" Marinette said running down the corridor. The others followed as she opened all the doors near the end of the corridor.

As she opened the final door at the end of the corridor she froze, and her mouth dropped open. The boys quickly saw what she had found: Not only Sabrina's but also Alya's body lying on the floor with DAGGER cards on top of them.

"Oh my god" Adrien said.

Marinette suddenly without question started to sprint towards another doorway at the other side of the room.

"Where are you going?!" Nathaniel shouted at her.

Without turning or slowing she shouted back, "We _JUST_ heard Skales die! That means Honey has to have just escaped through this door or we would have seen her!"

"Bugsworthy wait!" Adrien shouted but it was useless as she had just gone through the door. He turned to Nino and Nathaniel, "I was going to say that the murderer might be hiding in this room." He paused for a second then began running to the door too, "You two search here! I'll go get her! And stay in this room so we know where to find you!" With that he too had left through the door.

* * *

Adrien was sprinting down corridors trying to catch up to Marinette who was sprinting at almost an athlete's pace 20m ahead of him. He didn't know what was more impressive: The fact she could almost out-run him or the fact she was doing it in heels.

Marinette wasn't even aware that Adrien was following her, she didn't care. He was set on catching Chloe now no matter how far she needed to chase her.

As she blazed through another corridor she saw a flash of yellow turn the corner at the end. This was it. Chloe was just around the corner.

As she turned the corner she saw that Chloe was coming up behind Ivan and Juleka. She must be about to murder them too.

Marinette ran up to Chloe from behind and tackled her causing her to shriek as they crashed to the floor.


	10. Madame Honey

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _Lots and lots of murder by daggers. ;D._ _Perhaps the final confrontation will happen in the next chapter? We'll see._

 **Well it is the easiest method to kill someone you are in close contact with. That also might be the case ;)**

 **CanaryBug** _Jeez Marinette! How... You know what, remind me never to make Marinette mad._

 **Good idea, she's pretty tough due to all her work as LB.**

 **CeceTheFandomQue (Guest)** _YES *makes punching motions* R_

 ***joins in with punching motions* YES!**

 **Guest** _I love how Mari tackled Chloe to the ground before she killed more people. Very ladybug of her. I hope she doesn't die in the next one though._

 **Well of course! If a superhero went killing people they'd be just as bad as the villains. (Except Deadpool, he is an exception). Yes let's hope ;).**

 **Spottedlittlebug (Guest)** _Haha! You go Marinette! Making some Chloe-crepe XD._ _Btw, just for perspective's sake, what kind of heel is Marinette wearin_ g?

 **Not personally an expert in heel names but I had envisioned the kind with a thicker heel (though not completely wedges) (I don't think it would be possible to run in the thinner kind)**

 **Guest** _Who else thinks that the others will think Marinette is the murderer because she tackled Chloe? I love this fic btw. Fantastic job;D_

 **Thank you. I wonder if that might happen...**

 **SoryesV** _This is so good xD I really loved it, I'm having fun with this, but suspense too :o_

 **Thank you, and what's a good mystery story without suspense am I right?**

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 10 – Madame Honey**

Ivan and Juleka, shocked by the noise, turned around to see her attempting to pin the startled blonde to the ground.

Ivan rushed to pull Marinette off her and Juleka stood still in shock. As Chloe was freed by Ivan she snapped out of her stunned state and screamed at Marinette jumping up to try and attack her. Ivan helped by holding her down as Chloe unleashed her wrath.

"OW! OW! Knowles why are you helping her?!" Marinette shouted out as Chloe hit her.

"I'm not going to let you murder her that easily!" He shouted back at her.

"WHAT?!"

"Why else would you tackle someone like that!?" He replied not loosening his grip.

Adrien now turned the corner to see Ivan holding her down and Chloe's assault. He rushed in to pry Chloe off of her and held her down on the other wall opposite Marinette.

Chloe glared at him and then Marinette, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" she shouted at her, trying to break free of Adrien's hold on her.

"I WAS STOPPING YOU MURDERING THESE TWO!" She shouted back also trying to escape Ivan's grip.

"ME?! I'M NOT THE ONE WHO JUST ATTACKS PEOPLE FROM BEHIND"

"BECAUSE I STOPPED YOU!"

"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" Juleka shouted causing all 4 of them to look at her in shock. It was extremely unlike her to shout about anything, so everyone stopped and listened.

"You both need to take it down a notch. Actually, many notches!" She said, "You're acting crazy!"

" _ME?! She's_ the one who tackled me!" Chloe said.

"Stop it!" Adrien butted in, "Stop arguing! We need to make a justified decision and we cannot solve that with bickering!"

Both girls calmed down a bit so as not to upset Adrien, yet they continued to glare at each other.

"Now if me and Mr Knowles release you are you going to promise not to fight each other?" Adrien asked them slightly condescendingly.

"ugh, yes Lord Noir" The girls said in unison. Ivan and Adrien released Marinette and Chloe cautiously and they were true to their word and didn't snap at each other.

"Mr Knowles, me and Bugsworthy left Pintura and Carapace at the scene of a murder 3 halls down that way, could you and Lady Violet please head that way and tell them to come back here with you?"

"Yes, Lord Noir" Ivan responded. He and Juleka left down the corridor as instructed.

"Now ladies, we are going to have a civilised discussion in this room" He said gesturing to the door on his right, "And we will not be leaving until we sort this out."

Marinette and Chloe unhappily agreed and entered the room with Adrien.

* * *

The room was some kind of office with a desk that had large black leather chair behind it and 2 wooden chairs at the front. Adrien sat behind and told them to sit on the wooden chairs.

"Now, you two need to agree not to speak over one another" He told them.

"Ok Lord Noir" Marinette said.

"Madame Honey?" Adrien said frowning at Chloe.

"Fine!"

"Good." He said contentedly, "Now, Honey you begin"

"So, I was walking down the corridor _alone_ when I see psycho over here sprinting towards me, so I run. I kept running until I turn the corner and see Knowles and Violet there. Just as I'm about to call out to them for help- BAM! I'm tackled to the ground"

"Ok, now Bugsworthy" Adrien gestured to Marinette who was frowning in disbelief.

"You already know Noir" She told him.

"Yes, but we're doing this properly and we're going to tell each other our own perspectives." He said slightly assertively.

"Okay well I walk downstairs with you Pintura and Carapace and suddenly we hear Ms Skales scream as she's murdered. We run to the sound and find both her and Rouge murdered and only 1 way out that the murderer could have taken. I run out that exit to find none other than Honey running away so I chased her. You know the rest."

"So, you found me in a nearby area and that means it _must_ be me does it?" Chloe snapped defensively.

" _Excuse me?_ What was your reason for accusing me of poisoning Veloci's drink again? Oh yeah, because I was near to it! You're a murderer _and_ a hypocrite." Marinette crossed her arms as she finished.

"Hey! Stop that both of you!" Adrien chimed in, "Honey, you said you were alone. Why was that. What happened to Lady Azure who you were meant to be accompanied by?"

Chloe froze for a second before trying to act vulnerable and weak, "Well she ditched me Noir, left me all alone! I never saw her after that, so I went looking for the others by myself."

"Cut the crap Honey, we found her dead!" Marinette butted in.

"Hey what happened to talking over each other?!" Chloe said frowning at Adrien to make him do something about it.

"Bugsworthy please wait your turn" Adrien told Marinette, "But she isn't wrong Honey. We found her dead and I don't think Azure is exactly the 'ditching' kind of person."

Chloe looked down at her feet nervously, "I uh-" She gulped and tried to avoid eye contact with Adrien. *sigh* "I ditched her okay! I was angry that you guys didn't let me go with Noir, so I told her to buzz off and went looking for you."

Adrien was slightly taken aback by this, he never saw Chloe get embarrassed like that without masking it under bullying.

"So, you _didn't_ murder her?" He asked her

"No! I haven't murdered anyone I promise."

Marinette was frowning and desperately looking at Adrien to get him to let her speak. He noticed her agitation and gestured towards her.

"What about Skales and Rouge then?" she asked.

"What about them?" Chloe asked seeming genuinely confused.

"We _heard_ Skales dying and Rouge was already dead at that point. If you really aren't the murderer how come you were the only person within running distance?"

"I-" Chloe paused to think for a moment, "I genuinely have no clue" She finally responded.

"It doesn't make any sense" Adrien said, "If Honey really didn't do it then no one else was there _to do_ it."

"Carapace and Pintura were with us, Knowles and Violet were here and Noxium had been caught" Marinette listed thinking aloud.

"The only other people around were dead" Adrien said. "Or- What if-" He paused and then his eyes widened. "What if they weren't?"

The door burst open revealing Alya standing there holding a red card pointed at the 3 of them with the word REVOLVER on it.

"What if they weren't indeed Lord Noir" She said with a menacing grin on her face.


	11. Madame Rouge

**Replies to Reviews:**

 **CanaryBug** _And... who has two thumbs and was absolutely incorrect? THIS GUY_

 **Hey look on the bright side. At least you've still got 2 thumbs.**

 **ImperialOtaku** _Ohhhhhhhh dang! I was fine with the idea of the murderer being Chloé but I was hoping for a surprise twist, and you definitely delivered._

 **Well of course! I couldn't give you a boring ending like that now could I?**

 **DC (Guest)** _Lol of course it's Alya that ends up being the murderer. The concept of this story is great! Keep it up!_

 **Why thank you DC. But there's not much left to keep up I'm afraid.**

 **Ugly-Duckling123** _Alyla's the murder?!_

 **That appears to be the case doesn't it?**

 **Ladybug fan Renee** _Okay I did not see the twist if Alya as the murderer coming that is really good_

 **Thank you, I don't think many of you did.**

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _Plot twist! I did wonder if it was possible for the murderer to fake death. It seems most likely that the others are dead already... I'm interested to see how this "Revolver" card works. This is so exciting! I love it!_

 **Oh it's a fun one! That's why I saved it for last!**

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Chapter 11 – Madame Rouge**

"Madame Rouge?!" Marinette exclaimed in pure disbelief. " _YOU_ are the murderer?!"

"Unexpected isn't it?" She said coyly, "None of them expected it either. Not Azure, not Skales, not even Carapace and Pintura!"

"Oh god!" Adrien said as he was hit with the realisation of what he'd done.

"Oh yes it was ever so kind of you to instruct them to stay with me Lord Noir! All defenceless and with no means of alerting you." Alya smiled sweetly at him as she spoke making the whole situation creepier. "And then you even so kind as to send two more over to me afterwards! Oh the looks on their faces as they saw all the bodies in that room. Not as good as the ones one their face when one of them got up and stabbed them."

"So that's what you did? Play dead and let them come to you?" Chloe said, "That seems like a pathetic way to do it."

"Really? Pathetic? Do you not even see how I manipulated you?!" She began laughing as she said it.

Chloe frowned in disgust, "What do you mean _manipulated_?"

"Well the list goes on doesn't it?" Alya said cockily, "How about when I made sure your least favourite person here was next to the first target, so you'd be so eager to accuse her. Or how about when I purposely denied you your choice of partner, so you would foolishly leave the one you do get as an easy target."

Chloe gaped in awe and disgust as she realised that it was all true, Marinette sniggered at her rival.

"Oh, don't think you weren't either _Bugsworthy_!" Alya began ceasing her friend's laughter, "You were obviously a tool in fuelling Honey's foolish actions, but I needed you to be rash too. I purposely left the dead partner of the person you really wanted to be the murderer out in the open, so you could jump to conclusions about her. And I had to time Skales' screams just so you'd hear them and completely ignore my body there in order to find Honey who must have been close. And it's a good job I did because if Noir hadn't gone to run after you he was close to figuring it out."

Marinette looked apologetically towards Adrien who was simply staring at Alya in awe. Chloe however was not having any of it and stood up to tackle Alya.

"HEY SIT DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Alya screamed at Chloe, "SEE THIS CARD?! REVOLVER: Point at a target and say 'Bang' to kill them. Make it clear to the target that if you say 'Bang' they are unavoidably dead."

Chloe sat back down with her hands up.

"Good!" Alya said aggressively pointing the card towards her, "And if any of you stand up again I _WILL_ shoot."

"Madame Rouge" Adrien said, "How did you do it?"

"What do you mean?" She asked him

"How did you manage to do it all so flawlessly?" He said in complete amazement, "I never once suspected you."

"Well, I pride myself in doing things to perfection." She began not holding off for any modesty, "Veloci was easy, I put the card in a random glass by the punch bowl and filled as many glasses as I could and left them there. She really killed herself once she took the bad glass, it was only then that any of your _suspects_ went near her glass. Of course, I had to make sure Bugsworthy got one that definitely wasn't poisoned but that wasn't hard since she was last to arrive."

"You accused me!" Chloe said as she realised what had happened, "It was never Bugsworthy, _you_ stuck up for her by accusing me. You _really_ planned all of that?"

"Guilty!" Alya said with a grin. "Magenta was probably the hardest, I had to plan ahead of time and ask one of the Mansion staff to turn off the lights at a specific time so that I could have an opportunity. Once it was dark I carefully walked to her and put the card by her feet and 'accidently' bump them, so she'd pick it up. Really Magenta was just a bonus, the main reason I had the lights set up was so my little assassin could get an opportunity to kill the Doctor before he went all Sherlock Holmes on us, but she got the wrong guy! But of course, as you know that ended up working even better in my favour didn't it?"

"Because she killed 2 people and caused a reason for us to split up" Marinette said.

"Oh, aren't you a clever little detective!" She said patronisingly. "Ms Skales was the most fun! I pulled my dagger on her almost straight away. She screamed and begged so I took the pity on only keeping her hostage until we found and killed Azure together. Then of course I waited until I heard you lot opening and closing nearby doors to finally kill the poor girl, so you'd hear her screams and then find our 'corpses'."

"So, what now?" Chloe asked, "Are you going to kill us or keep monologuing?"

"Oh, we've got a cranky one, don't we?" Alya said patronisingly, "You know what cranky babies need? A nap!"

"I am not a baby!" Chloe screamed back.

"oooooh it sounds like baby needs a _long_ one!" Alya pointed the card at Chloe "BANG". "That'll do it!" she said with a beaming smile. Chloe frowned at Alya but followed the rules and fell back in her chair as if she had been shot in the head.

"Holy crap!" Adrien said with an expression of genuine fear on his face.

"That was a _bit_ extreme don't you think?" Marinette said also slightly scared of her friend.

Alya's smile dropped to a completely expressionless face, "I don't like people who whine. People who I don't like get shot."

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other in fear as Alya kept the card pointed at them.

"Now this is what's going to happen" Alya told them, "I'm going to shoot you both and I'm going to win. Any objections?"

"I object!" Adrien said.

Alya pointed the card directly at him, "Why is that Lord Noir?" Adrien nervously looked at her and started to blag an answer, "Well you see you can't kill us yet because you haven't uh-" He looked behind her through the door way and subtly tipped his head to the right. She noticed his movement, "You haven't um-" He did it once more, "You need to-"

Alya frowned and snapped around and pointed the card behind her expecting to see someone behind her that Adrien was gesturing to. The second she did she was tackled to the ground by Marinette causing her to drop the card in front of her.

"NO!" She screamed.

Marinette held her down as Adrien rushed up and grabbed the card off of the ground. He picked it up and pointed it at Alya.

"It's over Madame Rouge!" He shouted triumphantly at her, "I have a revolver now and I'm not afraid to use it!"

"Aw come on!" Alya said, "I was so close, and I lose to that! It wasn't even a _good_ trick!"

"You wasted time monologuing! It's the downfall of a villain!" Marinette said.

"Well it wouldn't have been fun to kill you immediately would it?" Alya said. "Ok fine you win, I'm arrested."

Marinette released her and she got up dusting herself off, "Well that was tonnes of fun! Thanks for a great party Adrien!"

"Alya" Marinette said putting her hand on her best friend's shoulder, "You are _terrifying_." Alya burst out laughing.

"Seriously Alya I was genuinely concerned you'd gone completely psychopath on us" Adrien said.

"I guess I just really got into character huh." She said smiling, "Don't worry, Madame Rouge might be insane but Alya's still your loveable, beautiful and incredibly modest best friend." The three laughed.

"Hey so if the game's over can I get up now?" Chloe asked from inside the room.

"Oh yeah!" Adrien said, "We should probably let the others know the game's over."

"I'm surprised they've kept up being dead for so long" Marinette said as they walked towards the rooms where the others were.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **That is the end! (Mostly! There is a** **bonus chapter coming tomorrow** **!)**

 **I really hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have creating it. It has been really fun to work out a way to keep a logical conclusion without making it obvious who dunnit (as that is the whole point of course).**

 **The other highlight for me has of course been you guys! Seeing consistently large numbers of you favouriting and following this story (and my account) after every chapter has been posted has made me so happy and really motivated me to work even harder on this story and I can't thank you all enough. It's seriously mind-blowing to me how many of you there are.**

 **A special shout out to the reviewers (especially the consistent ones) giving me feedback, questions and great theories throughout! You guys were always my favourite part of uploading a new chapter.**

 **There** _ **will**_ **be a** **bonus chapter** **posted tomorrow which is kind of an epilogue of sorts (but basically some Adrienette fluff) and I will also be putting some of my favourite predictions left in reviews on previous chapters (including my responses to some that I would have made if not for spoilers).**

 **Like I said, I hope you have all enjoyed and I will look forward to hopefully see some of your names pop up on my future stories.**

 **-LinguineReturns**


	12. Bonus Chapter: The Last 2 Survivors

**A/N The bonus chapter is here, there are just a** _ **lot**_ **of replies to reviews so if you don't read those then look for the line breaks for the bonus chapter.**

 **Replies to Reviews:**

 **Ladybug fan Renee** _Who knew that Alya could be so devious she is scary_

It's quite terrifying I agree. She's very smart though so it's not unlike to make a plan like that.

 **Katsa Graceling** _Lo sabía! Sospeché de Alya desde que designó parejas, porque, que otra razón tendria para eligir irse con Chloe si tenía a Nino?, obviamente porque ningún otro se alejaría de ella._ _Que gran historia espero un epílogo :3_

¡Gracias!

 **CeceTheFandomQue (Guest)** _YAS And the two heroes were the only ones alive and TOOK HER DOWN! I love how well they worked together too. Mari already knew what to do without Adrien even saying anything._

Ikr, It's like they work as a team to fight bad guys every day or something! :P

 **CanaryBug** _Aww it's over?_ _Nevertheless, this was a really good story and I was hooked all the way through!_ _Can't wait to see what the future holds for this dynamic duo!_

It's sad yes but there's only so far I can stretch it out before it's bland or chapters of fewer than 100 words. Thank you for enjoying it though and being here the whole way through!

 **7lights13darknesses** _That was an unexpected twist! I loved how crazy and in character Alya was. And it is but the twist is no one actually died in the play. The doc like everyone else faked it because they all thought there was a murderer_.

So, all of them just assumed they were really going to die, and all pretended so they would get killed? What about the first person though? Did they knock themselves out by accident or something?

 **Guest** _I really thought there would be way more chapters, but I enjoyed reading it. You should more like this one._

Don't worry, as soon as I get a good enough idea I will get straight to work on writing it.

 **Guest** _I LOVE THIS STORY! If you ever create anything new, I'll definitely read it_

Thank you, if you haven't already check out my previous Miraculous fics (Miraculous Night and its sequel Miraculous Day) to tide you over. New stuff will definitely come but I can't promise when since I don't like to write stories until I'm really happy with the base chapter and the premise, but once I am I just keep going until it's done. (For example, I had the first chapter of this for about 4 weeks before I wrote the rest as I kept tweaking it until I liked it and had a plan for the plot).

 **Sprite Heartfilia** _I can imagine it right now. Marinette bringing Alya into the room in handcuffs. Since Alya is technically is "Arrested"._

That would be a fun sight to see.

 **Lucky Charmz (Guest)** _THANK YOU! This was great. I didn't see the ending coming. I love how you write Alya's monologuing. ''Twas great. I love this fic, and I hope you write more in the future! I love your updating schedule because I dintavevto wait for MONTHS for a new chapter (unlike some others I could mention). I can't wait for the bonus chapter. Thanks again!_

Thank you. I agree, there is nothing worse than becoming immersed into a really good fic and then you don't get an update for months and you've forgotten it all. I may be a while until I have created the next story, but I will always promise daily (or every 2 days at the very most) updates once I have a fic to post.

 **Ducodnamoreemia** _I am upset that I found this story the day the final chapter was put up, at least there's the epilogue. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and while I would love to have 10 more chapters that would make no sense... unless one of the characters actually died! not likely. I do have one suggestion if you decide to edit this at all, maybe add a "cast list" of sorts in the authors's note If Chapter 2, personally I had some trouble keeping everyone straight and think it'd be helpful to future readers, and would also be in a fairly relevant spot._

That is a good point, even I struggled to remember some names when writing. I tried to make it so the important characters' names were obvious (Like the ones named after their hero names) and in the first few chapters I tried to make it so if a character was addressed by their character's name they were somehow mentioned outside of speech as their real name. I feel like this works better than having a list and readers needing to constantly look back to and refer to, but I will definitely consider integrating it better for any future fic done this way.

 **KiddyCartoonFangirl** _Hurray! What a great story! I never would have suspected Madame Rouge, but I was right that it wasn't Madame Honey!_ _Thank you so much for writing this story, it was a ball! I enjoyed reading it very much. I'm looking forward to the epilogue!_

Thank you! It was great having your comments on every chapter and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I guess it's good that you saw through that red-herring at least XD. (Actually, was that a red-herring? I think since a character made that conclusion it isn't but I'm not sure.)

 **Guest** _Great job! I loved your story! Cannot stop reading!_

Thank you!

 **doraclub** _Great job! I loved it and I honestly never thought of this idea. Thanks so much for taking the time to write and post this!_

Thank you! I wouldn't say I "took the time to do it" as that makes it sound like a chore. I enjoy writing it (hopefully) as much as you enjoy reading it, so I would never consider it a chore.

 **Shadowhunted by Miraculous** _OMG that is such an amazing story !_ _You are so talented and it was so mind-blowing to read. I just had to keep going!_ _you did such a fantastic job CONGRATS I never would have guessed it was Alya!_

Thank you. She is sneaky, isn't she?

 **Spottedlittlebug (Guest)** _Wow! That was such a fun read! Can't wait for the epilogue!_

Thank you for sticking with it this whole time! I'm glad you enjoyed.

* * *

 **Murder at Agreste Mansion**

 **Bonus Chapter – The last 2 survivors**

Once all the dead guests had been rounded up they had gathered once again in the dining hall to chat about the events of the evening with some more food and drink. Each of them told tales of how Alya had killed them and laughed at their rash decisions and predictions they had made throughout the evening.

One-by-one they began to leave as their parents collected them. After Alya left it was only Adrien and Marinette left.

"I'm sorry Adrien I'm always last, aren't I?" She told him trying to laugh it off.

"It's alright Marinette" He told her, "And actually since you showed up later than everyone else you _haven't_ stayed the longest yet."

She looked at him frowning as he grinned. "That makes some sense I guess. Although I still feel bad since I'm delaying your staff cleaning up."

"Hey it's ok!" He assured her, "Think about it. If this was still Lord Noir's party, then everyone else would be dead, it would only be him and Lady Bugsworthy left anyway!"

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right." She said perking up a bit, "I wonder what they would do being the only 2 people at a huge party."

"I'm sure they'd make the best of it." Adrien said.

"You think?" Marinette asked.

"Of course" He told her. His face suddenly lit up, "Hey! We're still dressed up as them! Let's prove it!"

"Alright Lord Noir, we're the last 2 survivors, what do we do?"

"Well, as a true gentleman and host I would offer you a drink" He said picking up a glass of punch, "and then I would compliment your outfit."

He handed her the drink which she took a sip from as he bowed to her, "You look stunning this evening M'Lady."

Marinette began blushing, "and then what would I do?"

"You, being such a fine Lady would graciously take the drink and complement and then- well what would you do?"

Marinette picked up another glass of punch and handed it to him, "I would offer a drink in return to the dashing gentleman and if he continued to be so sweet I would kiss him on the cheek to thank him."

Adrien took the drink and had a sip, "Well?"

"Well what?" She asked.

"What sweet things would the dashing gentleman need to say to get that kiss?" He said flirtatiously.

"I-" Marinette blushed deeply.

He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "What if he told her that her hair was perfect, or her that dress was gorgeous, or that he was lost in her sparkling blue eyes."

She looked up at him with those same blue eyes and bit her lip nervously. His face was only an inch away from hers and he was looking into her eyes with a confident grin on his face.

"Or that he couldn't wait to taste her plump, shiny, scarlet lips with his own."

"Adrien?" Marinette asked him slightly concerned.

"Yes?" He responded smiling as he looked into her eyes.

"Are you being serious? Or- or is this just Noir?" She asked him.

"Which would you rather?" He asked her putting his hands either side of her head running his fingers through her hair.

Frozen by the tingling sensation all over her body she simply looked into his eyes and moved her lips just enough to whisper, "You."

He leaned in and kissed her gently but passionately. Marinette, ignoring her mind exploding at the fact she was making out with Adrien, put her arms around his torso and pulled him further into the kiss.

It was bliss. A kind of bliss she would be contented with if they never pulled apart from it. Adrien wasn't sure what drove him to do it but all evening he had been feeling really attracted to Marinette as she was not only even more beautiful but had really shown a much more confident side to herself. Like what he saw in Ladybug. Except he didn't once think about Ladybug all evening nor did he regret it. This moment with Marinette was exactly what he wanted.

They eventually both pulled away to breathe but still embracing each other opened their eyes and looked at each other. Adrien smiled at her but she had a bit of a different reaction. One more of fear. _Had she really just kissed Adrien!?_ Her mind was going into a panic and she was losing composure in typical Marinette fashion.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked her.

"Y-y-yeah I-" was all she managed to spit out.

"I'm sorry did I go too far?" He asked now concerned.

"N-n-no y-you" She stuttered before taking a deep breath and pulling him into another kiss. Since she was incapable of speaking it was her only way of letting him know this was what she wanted. And it worked. He kissed her back loving every second of it.

For the rest of the evening the two felt no need for words, they just needed each other.

It turns out the last 2 survivors at a party really can make the best of it.

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed that! I felt like the ending of the previous chapter was a good ending point but I really wanted some more Adrienette (or NoirWorthy) in there, so I sat down began writing and this chapter happened.**

 **Now for some of my favourite predictions you made on earlier chapters (since I had to hold back my thoughts about them at the time):**

 **CanaryBug (On chapter 4)**

 _So I was thinking about possible suspects: I feel as if Chloe and Sabrina would be a bit too obvious (It still may be a possibility). I had originally debunked Lila, but after learning there may be 2 suspects, I put her on the maybe list. Adrien is definitely a possibility due to the fact that Chat has night vision. Nathaniel may seem suspicious, but I believe its a false lead. I can put Juleka on the maybe as well as Max, but Marinette seems interesting. Although she seems innocent, it may not be too far off to believe she could have slipped a card..._

 _Anywayzz, I'm probably totally wrong but it's fun funto theorize!_

You made 2 correct decisions about Lila straight away so well done for that.

Adrien was always meant to be a red-herring and _MANY MANY_ people began to guess him due to this. I had originally considered him when writing it but in a real game of murder mystery I did with friends (the one I said inspired this fic on one of my previous A/Ns) the host ended up being the murderer (not by her choice) but it ended up kind of sucking because it made everything feel planned out (even though she hadn't).

And I had originally planned for it to be that Marinette had unknowingly planted the poison card in the drink with a part when they find out with Chloe convincing the others it was her down the line but I couldn't quite get that to work how I liked so I scrapped it in the end.

 **Ladybug fan Renee and Ugly-Duckling123 (On chapter 4)**

Both guessed Adrien, but I have addressed that above.

 **CanaryBug (Chapter 5)**

 _Alya Cesaire, you sly fox._ _And I guess I was kinda right?_

I know you were referring to Alya putting Mari with Adrien but I find it ironically funny since she was a _LOT_ more of a sly fox than you probably anticipated.

 **Spottedlittlebug (Chapter 8)** _What if both Honey and Azure were murdered, then the murderer moved one of the victims to throw the rest off? hmmm... or it could be Honey haha I guess I'll just have to wait for next chapter._ _Also, was Lila hired by the murderer? Since she mentioned a 'target', and assassins are usually hired, right?_

That was exactly my plan for the way Alya was going to fake her death. It was going to be that Myléne, Sabrina, Chloe had all died together but Alya hid Chloe and faked her death to pin it on Chloe. But I decided that I would rather have Chloe alive to face the wrath of Marinette reaching the same conclusion which is what ended up happening. (Plus, idk how Alya would be able to kill 3 people all at once without being stopped by the other 2 after the first one.)

And you got the hiring bit right so well done.

 **As a whole I don't think anyone predicted Alya was the murderer (at least in a review) so either I planted my red-herrings well or my clues weren't good enough. I feel like there were enough clues but there** _ **were**_ **subtle. Like how I masked her Chloe manipulation a lot with "helping" Marinette.**

 **I really hope you have all enjoyed this fic as much as I have. (I know I say that a lot). I did say in some replies but for those that do not read them: I can't promise a certain timeframe that a new fic will be in as I only write when I am very happy with a premise, but once I have one you can expect frequent updates to it like this fic had.**

 **For now though, Thanks for reading and I look forward to interacting with you again in the future.**

 **-LinguineReturns**


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